Italy’s Minister of Sport Vincenzo Spadafora discussed the return of Italian football and the ongoing Coronavirus emergency in an interview in today’s paper edition of the Rome based newspaper Repubblica.
“To resume the matches on May 3 is unrealistic. Tomorrow I will propose to ban for the whole of April the sporting competitions of every order and degree. And I’ll extend the measures to training sessions that we hadn’t banned because there was a possibility that the Olympics could be held.”
Spadafora highlighted how the government will allocate a fund of €400 million to grassroots sports.
“Sport is not only football and football is not only Serie A. – I will allocate an extraordinary plan of 400 million to grassroots sport, to amateur associations in the territories, to a fabric that I am sure will be one of the engines of rebirth.”
Finally, the Minister of Sport discussed Serie A and how the clubs need to change.
“From Serie A football, on the other hand, I expect the demands to be accompanied by a serious desire for change. The big clubs are living in a bubble, beyond their means, starting with the millionaire salaries of the players. They have to understand that nothing can be the same after this crisis.”
Serie A, like most other leagues around Europe, has been postponed until further notice due to the Coronavirus contagion, that has killed over 9000 in Italy alone. The country has been put under total lockdown by prime minister Giuseppe Conte, with most people staying inside their homes as much as possible.
The virus is expected to have a long-lasting effect on both the Italian and world economies. In regard to football, it is expected that most teams will not look to spend too much in order to stabilise their financial situation.
